Calif. public instruction chief in town to designate district as one of 11 in state to show model gains

San Diego  Through a combination of classroom parties, community outreach and an early-warning monitoring system, the San Diego school district has increased daily student attendance rates — from kindergarten through high school — in the past three years.

Not surprisingly, research shows that students who show up to school regularly are less likely to fall behind and eventually drop out. Cracking down on absenteeism can also help school district financially in the way of increased attendance money.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson plans to visit San Diego today to recognize the district’s improvements in student attendance and to officially designate San Diego Unified as one of 11 model attendance improvement districts in California.

“San Diego is one of the few large urban districts that are doing really well in addressing chronic absenteeism,” Torlakson said Monday. “Combating this is one of the best strategies for having students succeed, fighting the dropout rate and saving money.”

San Diego Unified is the only large urban district to make the state list of model attendance districts. Torlakson is hopeful others will replicate the district’s efforts.

Over the past three years, San Diego Unified has increased attendance to 96.20 percent of students in class every day, up from 95.28 percent in the 2009-10 school year.

Although the roughly one percentage point gain is seemingly modest, it is significant and tough to accomplish, said David Kopperud, chair of the State School Attendance Review Board. For instance, he said, improving attendance by a half-percent in one year would increase the district’s attendance revenue by $3 million.

While most attendance efforts focus on middle and high school students, San Diego Unified has included its youngest students — kindergartners — in its efforts.

“Kindergartners and first-graders can miss a few days of school, and it is easy to go unnoticed. They are often the same students who become truant or drop out later,” Kopperud said. “It’s important to start this work before students are disengaged and before they hate school.”

San Diego schools regularly recognize students for improved and perfect attendance records through campus assemblies and prizes. District officials, meanwhile, confer with probation officers and health care workers when working with truant and chronically absent students. The goal is to help families that may have problems with everything from transportation to medical needs.

On top of that, San Diego Unified has also developed an early-warning computer program that gives schools and administrators fast and accurate data about student attendance, allowing them to zero in on attendance changes at campuses, classes, even specific students.

San Diego schools with the largest gains in attendances are: Crawford High School’s multimedia and visual arts academy; Roosevelt Middle School; and Encanto, Zamarano, Crown Point and Foster elementary schools.